The determination of pesticide quantities in agricultural and environmental practices is very important. A pesticide is, broadly speaking, an agent used to control pests, such as insects. In the agricultural area, pesticides are employed in a variety of ways including coating seeds to prevent the seeds from being consumed before they are planted. However, it is desirable to control the quantity pesticide used to control pests because of possible unwanted effects to other animals and the environment. Therefore, in controlling the amount of pesticide used it is important to accurately determine the quantity of pesticide present in a given sample.
The current art of quantitative pesticide determination includes the use of liquid and gas chromatography. Generally, in liquid chromatography, a sample seed is ground up from which a liquid extract is taken. The extract is filtered and then placed in a high performance liquid chromatography system or gas chromatography system.
Liquid and gas chromatography, however, have several disadvantages. First, they require very controlled environments and highly skilled trained personal which are not suitable to industrial application areas. Second, they require numerous highly controlled steps and expensive equipment which requires a high level of maintenance. Thirdly, they are not readily adaptable for in-field analysis of pesticide levels. Therefore, methods and devices which overcome these disadvantages are desirable.